Apologies to everyone for not keeping up with these reports. Chairing the Central Board created a heavy workload, and the notes from Forward Chats tended to get moved to the back burner. Writing on May 10, 2020 (Mother’s Day), I am reporting on nine meetings held from November 2019 through March 2020. In most cases, the whiteboard notes were brief. In a few, there were none taken. I am reporting what information I can find.
Meeting #32 – March 1, 2020:
Responding to the Coronavirus Pandemic
This meeting began with a PowerPoint presentation about the Coronavirus by the Board Chair, who worried that the church might not realize how serious this was going to be. There had also been an insert in the worship bulletin that morning. The presentation is still available on the board website here: https://bev2board.weebly.com/covid-19-ppt-rev.html
At this point, even those of us who did take it seriously had no real concept what it was going to be like. We discussed ways to be careful in church, but we did not talk about what we would have to do if the church closed entirely. But the chat did help us at least a few of us begin to wrap our heads around the problem it presented. The ideas that made it onto the whiteboard were:
· Bulletin inserts
· Elbow greetings
· Talk to all tenants
· Ask Theresa to send an email, and put it in the newsletter – talk about cough etiquette
· Hand sanitizer at stands by the aisle – two big pump-style dispensers and put them away after the service
· What to do about suppers? Do we have to wipe down the soup ladles and everything with alcohol?
· What about the hand-held mike? Wipe it down? Not use it at all?
· What about the kids’ toys?
There were also questions (which were addressed in the revised PowerPoint on the website)
· How long does it live on surfaces?
· How often do you have to wipe everything down?
· How long is the incubation period?
· What about animals?